1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mobile apparatus comprising a chassis and a plurality of wheels, wherein at least one wheel is driven, and the driven wheel is connected to the chassis via a suspension element that supports the wheel and is movable relative to the chassis. The mobile apparatus may particularly be an autonomously mobile floor cleaning device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile apparatuses of the kind described above are known in the prior art. They may be for example autonomously mobile floor cleaning devices such as robot vacuum cleaners. In order to be able to clean a room thoroughly, for example, the mobile apparatus must also be able to negotiate obstacles. This applies for example to climbing onto a carpet that is raised above the level of the rest of the subsurface. In particular, it is known to fit mobile apparatuses with special equipment that enables them to negotiate such obstacles. For example, the prior art includes examples of mobile apparatuses having a kind of lifting mechanism, with which the mobile apparatus can be raised onto the obstacle in question. The lifting mechanism is activated when an obstacle is encountered, particularly effected by a system for monitoring the surroundings of the mobile apparatus for the presence of such obstacles.
For example, German patent no. DE 202008017137 U1 describes such a travelling cleaning device which is equipped with a lifting mechanism having two sets of swivelling arms and arranged on a base plate of the cleaning device. The swivelling arms in a swivelling arm set extend parallel to one another and are unfolded and folded up by a drive unit with a gearbox. When the cleaning device is used on an obstacle-free subsurface, the swivelling arms remain in the folded position, and cleaning device moves around on the wheels disposed on the swivelling arms. As soon as the sensors in a monitoring device detect an obstacle, the swivelling arms closest to the obstacle are unfolded so that they are resting on top of it and can lift the floor cleaning device over the level difference. As soon as the cleaning device has passed the obstacle, the swivelling arms are folded together again, so that the cleaning device returns to the original state for flat subsurfaces.
Although mobile apparatuses of this kind have proven to be quite capable of negotiating an obstacle, the lifting mechanism described is complicated to manufacture, which also makes it particularly expensive. Accordingly, the same also applies for the mobile apparatus as whole, i.e. a floor leaning device, for example.